


say it will always be like this

by quantumoddity



Category: Nightrunner Series - Lynn Flewelling
Genre: Cute, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Makeup, look I'm reading the white road and I just need to write these boys being happy for a second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26533312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: Seregil decides it's time for Alec to learn the subtle art of make up. And he has a few ways to make it more interesting.
Relationships: Alec í Amasa/Seregil í Korit
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	say it will always be like this

Seregil had taught Alec a wide variety of skills in the time they’d been together. From coercing locks to open to walking like a noble, from scaling walls ten times as tall as he was with no foothold in sight to navigating the baffling arsenal of cutlery that would be set before him as standard practise at the palace. Skills that would save his life, skills that would take the life of someone else and more than a few skills that were only to be used within the gauzy canopy of their own bed. Alec, always sharp and hungry to learn, had taken to every one with his usual endearing eagerness, tackling everything from swordplay to chardsharping and giving himself to it completely until he was as good as Seregil. Maybe even better, in some cases.

But this was the first time he’d ever seen his talímenios look truly, completely nervous. 

Seregil had to laugh, seeing his face as he opened the box between them and began laying the multitude of products within out on the bed. It was rather daunting, he supposed, when you saw how much was contained within a standard well born lady’s cosmetics chest. 

But there was just something so adorable about the way he immediately flushed and began to squirm, especially when Seregil’s laughter broke through the professional air he’d been trying so hard to maintain. 

“Oh hush…” he begged, ducking his head into his collar, the tips of his ears as red as if he’d been walking around in the snow currently falling outside their bedroom window with no hat. 

Seregil tried to marshal his trembling shoulders and the giggles bursting in his chest like champagne bubbles, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You’re just so adorable when you’re flustered like this…”

“You’re not helping!” he’d now yanked the fabric of his loose evening shirt as high as his nose and Seregil had to reach between them and coax it back down. 

“Hey now, talí…” he left his fingers where they were even when Alec had resurfaced, caressing his friend’s cheek with soft fingertips, “It’s just another skill, another weapon in any nightrunner’s arsenal. You wouldn’t believe the doors that a dress and a bit of rouge can open. And with your lovely braid, it’s the perfect time for you to learn!”

Alec sighed, clearly sinking any lingering traces of his strict Danlan upbringing as best he could, “I know…”

“And besides,” Seregil’s grin turned crooked the way it only did when he was out to pay court to his lover, something he still made a point of doing even now they’d been married in all but name for months and months, “I know you’re going to look beautiful in it.”

That clearly snagged Alec’s attention and soon he was blushing for an entirely different reason, a softer and more playful kind of heat in his face, “Oh come on.” 

“I mean it! Once I’ve taught you, you’ll be lucky if I ever actually Jelet you use this disguise. You’ll have every man with a working set of eyes from miles around nipping at your heels.” 

It was Alec’s turn to laugh, shaking his head so a few strands of his blonde hair fell across his face, his braid starting to unravel as it always did in the evenings after a day of wear, “You’re such a fool, talí.”

“Fair. Doesn’t make me wrong though, does it?”

Now his love was smiling, he sat back and turned his attention to the products on the bed between them. He’d sorted them into groups based on what they did, what part of the face they were used for. First would come the instruction, then the application. Alec always learned best through touch. 

“This is pretty much a standard set of makeup for a Skalan woman of fairly high society. Not high enough to attract attention, mind you, but certainly well to do.”

“Standard?” Alec looked at the spread with a mix of apprehension and awe, “There’s so much!”

“Precisely,” Seregil chuckled, “The pressures put on women these days are quite staggering. And unfortunately for us, if we’re to pass as women then we need to rise to meet those pressures.” 

He held up a small pan between them, “This is a fairly common face powder, made for paling and smoothing the skin. Mind where you buy this when your stock runs low, some of the cheaper suppliers have started mixing the stuff with lead paint, of all things.”

“I suppose corpses are very pale?” Alec sniffed, taking the box from Seregil and turning it over in his hands, opening it up and rubbing a little of the chalky powder onto his finger, “How do I put it on?”

“With this,” Seregil held up a brush, “Finest horse hair. Here, I’ll do half of your face so you can get a feel for it, then you finish it off.” 

Alec gave a last groan of protest, though he paid close attention to how Seregil tapped the fine dark brush into the powder and let his eyes close without complaint, leaning close. 

Seregil had thought, with the weather in Rhiminee being so stubbornly awful, all sleet and snow and howling winds, this would be a good lesson to fill a cosy evening in. And he’d been right. While the flakes fell just outside the glass, their room was filled with gently glowing candles and the fire could be heard crackling in the sitting room just beyond the door. The smell of the mulled wine they’d been drinking still hung on the warm air, filling their bedroom with the scents of cherries, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It was on Alec’s breath too, as he exhaled softly, not wanting to move his face too much while Seregil carefully applied the powder. There was something so soft and relaxed about his face in that moment, cast in gently flitting shadows by the candlelight that, as soon as he was done, Seregil pressed his lips to his lover’s in a sweet kiss. 

Alec was grinning when he pulled away, “What was that about?”

Seregil smirked, “I haven’t put your lip paint on yet, it’s allowed. Right, can you see what I’ve done?” He pulled the looking glass he’d taken off the wall into his lap so Alec could see his face, now half an eerie bone white, “Concentrate on getting it settled into the creases of your eye and nose.”

Alec pulled a face at his reflection but took up the brush, mimicking Seregil’s movements as best he could. It wasn’t a bad effort at all, he only had to redo a few parts that he missed, just behind his ear and under his jaw. 

Seregil gave him a fondly annoyed smile. Was there nothing his talímenios wasn’t excellent at?

Next came the eyes, a more delicate affair. This required a completely different brush, a kohl pencil, the coloured dust made from dried and ground flowers. Again, Seregil did one eye so Alec could see what was required of him, then let him complete the set in the mirror. 

Alec was soon frowning, “This is so fiddly, like sprininging a tumble lock that trembles. And my eyes keep watering!” 

Seregil grinned, “Think of it like you’re pulling your bow. Your hands never shake then, do they?”

“Because I know what i’m doing with my bow,” Alec grumbled, a little petulantly, cursing and having to restart the kohl when his hand slipped, “Billiary’s balls!”

“Patience, talí,” Seregil smiled, “We have all evening. You’ll get the hang of it.”

Finally, after three attempts, Alec had two passably matching eyes, ringed in thick black kohl with lids shaded a deep, sultry red. And Seregil was starting to realise just how right he’d been at the start. 

Alec had always been beautiful to him, of course. Whether he was tricked up as his noble alter ego, in the finest silks with his hair neatly queued, or whether he was rough from weeks on the road, dust in his hair and days away from his last bath in anything but a half frozen stream, his lover would always be the most gorgeous man in the world as far as Seregil was concerned. The cosmetics, combined with the candlelight, only emphasised what he’d always seen on his talímenios’ face, like everything he’d always admired was being edged in gold.

Now Seregil was left wondering why he’d waited so long to give Alec this particular lesson. 

“Lips next,” he said, bringing himself back to the task at hand. He could do something with the feelings stirring inside him later. What kind of teacher would he be to only give half a lesson?

Now he’d mastered the eyes, Alec seemed to be getting more confident by the moment. He sniffed the lip paint with genuine interest, admiring it’s deep red colour. 

“It’s pigmented with crushed berries and beetle’s wings,” Seregil smiled, he loved satisfying his lover’s curiosity, “Which makes it pretty expensive so, in a pinch, you can rub a cut lemon on your lips. That’ll make them look redder and a little fuller.” 

Alec looked dumbfounded then laughed in disbelief, “This is like learning a code! All these secrets and tricks, I had no idea...” 

Seregil snorted, “I knew you’d get to liking this. Now, keep your mouth relaxed, don’t tighten up or the paint will crack. There, that’s it…”

Once again, the barely there distance between them as Seregil leaned in and carefully painted his lower lip struck him, the closeness, the attentiveness as Seregil’s focus shrank down utterly to Alec’s body. And this time, he wasn’t the only one who noticed. 

“I suppose you can’t kiss me now…” Alec murmured, voice a little lower and a little rougher.

Seregil was so close, he could practically hear his heartbeat, smell the scent of wood air and musk that was so completely Alec. 

Sergeil grinned, heat in his own cheeks now. If any of his friends on the Street of Lights learned that this sweet faced, shy smiling Northerner could actually get the infamous Seregil í Korit to  _ blush  _ with scent alone, his reputation was ruined. And in the moment, he didn’t think he cared. 

“Not until after our lesson,” he smiled regretfully, sitting up and handing the brush to Alec, a drop of red stain falling on his fingers as he did so, “Then, my talí, that lip paint is getting places it absolutely was never intended for.”

Even the thick layer of white paint couldn’t hide how red Alec got at that promise. Clearly Seregil hadn’t lost sight of himself entirely. 

Despite his new distraction, Alec completed his lips perfectly and, after a dusting of rouge and painting over some of his veins in blue ink, he was as perfectly made up as any woman in the Noble Quarter of Rhiminee. Of course Seregil would teach him what to accentuate to make his face look more femenine, working with his natural faie features to create the full effect so he’d pass even under a critical eye. But for now, he simply looked beautiful, ethereal and otherworldly. 

Alec grinned, feeling the heat in Seregil’s gaze. Even after he’d finished his rouge, Seregil hadn’t moved back. A bare inch and they’d be kissing. Suddenly, the candles seemed to be burning lower and the air had gotten warmer, closer, like before the tension broke and the rain began to fall. 

And then a glint of pure wickedness entered Alec’s innocent blue eyes, “So...am I prettier than Lady Gwethylyn?”

Sergeil’s jaw dropped for a moment before he gathered himself gave a low, throaty chuckle, casting the powders and brushes and tins to the floor so he could advance on Alec, pinning him back against the cushions. 

“Oh, talí, you’re in trouble now.”

Afterwards, Seregil took a lot of pleasure in standing before the much larger mirror placed against the far wall, scanning his body for the smudges of red and charcoal black and white like the gentlest snowfall, a map of how Alec had hungrily explored him, giving as much as he’d gotten for that comment. 

Alec sat up in bed behind him, admiring his work too. Seregil could see him in the mirror and returned his smug smile before turning to crawl back onto the bed. 

“All your hard work…” he murmured with a sigh of mock regret, touching one very badly smudged cheek. 

“Well, now I get to practise again,” Alec grinned, clearly hoping, the same as Seregil, that it would lead to another evening like this one. 

Seregil reached over and snagged his own shirt from where it had been carelessly tossed to the floor hours before. He used it to gently wipe away the last lingering traces of the makeup, where it still clung on determinedly at his eyes and his high, thin cheekbones. 

And then there was his Alec. No inks or powders or crushed flowers, just his own soft blue eyes and gentle, shy smile and messy, flyaway hair the colour of summer wheat. 

For once, Seregil allowed himself to say exactly what was in his heart, without any hesitation. 

“You don’t need any of that to be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The way Alec’s eyes deepened and creased so perfectly in the corners, the way a smile of uncomplicated joy lighted on his face, the way that he believed Seregil so completely in that moment made him glad he’d chosen this lesson for today. Because if there was anything he wished he could teach his lover, it was to see himself the way Seregil saw him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider leaving a comment if you liked this, it really helps motivate writers particularly in small fandoms like this one! I'm also on Tumblr, over at mollymauk-teafleak


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